In the global village that is the world today, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), as the trend goes, designated a date in May to celebrate its own day.

In actual fact the IAAF decided that a weekend would better serve the purpose and, additionally, encouraged its members to organise events for school-children during the same period.

This Olympics year, the IAAF also celebrates a centenary of activity, having been founded on 17 July 1912, a short while after the Stockholm Games.

Hosting a membership of over 200 federations, the largest among the sporting fraternity, the 17th World Athletics Day celebrated on the 12 and 13 of this month was supported in Malta, as they have been almost from inception, with events for school-children hailing from Church, Private and Governmental educational establishments.

In fact on Thursday 3 May, the local association (MAAA) held competitive events for 267 boys and girls from 20 schools from the junior secondary schools and on Friday 4 May another 187 children from 18 schools competed in both individual and team events.

For the occasion, besides medals and the team shields awarded by the MAAA, the IAAF supplied wrist bands, tee-shirts, certificates and specially designed posters that were distributed to participating schools and awarded to event winners.

The team events this year were as hotly contested as much as the individual events and in the competition for the junior girls’ schools,

St Dorothy’s notched their name on the Shield for the first time, emerging triumphant over St Monica Birkirkara.

The latter school made amends on the following day by winning handsomely by a wide margin over the Dorotheans with San Anton School taking third place on both occasions.

St Aloysius College for boys, by virtue of their winning the last event of the day over their closest rivals Stella Maris College, who only managed fourth place to finish three points adrift, confirmed once more their superiority at these events.

This was a follow-up of the previous day, when the Jesuit-educated boys had also carried away the honours. In fact, this is the third year running in which the College emerged triumphant on both days.

Kullegg St Venera Boys were second juniors with San Anton again finising third on both days, to emulate their girls.

On the actual days of commemorating the World Athletics Day, which were also the days of the national championships, all athletes born in the years 1995 and 1996 were also given mementos to mark the occasion, with winners receiving prizes as in the case of the events organised for schoolchildren.